View source for Heinrich XLV, Hereditary Prince Reuss Younger Line

{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Heinrich XLV
| title        = Hereditary Prince Reuss Younger Line
| image        = Heinrich XLV RjL.jpg
| caption      = Prince Heinrich XLV c. 1914&ndash;1918
| spouse       =
| issue        =
| full name    = {{langx|de|Heinrich}}
| house        = [[Reuss Younger Line]]<br />[[Reuss (state)|Reuss]]
| father       = [[Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line]]
| mother       = Princess Elise of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1895|5|13|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Saalburg-Ebersdorf|Ebersdorf]], [[Principality of Reuss-Gera]]
| death_date   = 1945 (disappeared)
| death_place  = [[NKVD special camp Nr. 2]], [[Weimar]], [[Allied-occupied Germany]]
}}
'''Heinrich XLV, Hereditary Prince Reuss Younger Line''' ({{langx|de|Heinrich XLV Prinz Reuß jüngere Linie}}; 13 May 1895 {{spaced ndash}} disappeared 1945) was the head of the [[Reuss (state)|House of Reuss]] from 1928 to 1945, as well the last male member of the Reuss-Schleiz branch of the [[Reuss Younger Line|Younger Line]].
==Early life==
Heinrich XLV was born at [[Saalburg-Ebersdorf|Ebersdorf]], in the [[Principality of Reuss-Gera]] (present-day [[Thuringia]]), only surviving son of [[Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line]] (1858–1928), (son of [[Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line]], and [[Duchess Agnes of Württemberg]]) and his wife, [[Princess Elise of Hohenlohe-Langenburg]] (1864–1929), (daughter of [[Hermann, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg]] and Princess Leopoldine of Baden).
He attended high school in [[Dresden]]<ref>[http://gera.otz.de/web/lokal/leben/detail/-/specific/Verschollen-in-Buchenwald-Heinrich-XLV-Reuss-1719107271 OTZ.de: ''Verschollen in Buchenwald: Heinrich XLV. Reuß''], retrieved 17 August 2012.</ref> and served as a lieutenant in the [[First World War]]. After the war he studied in [[Leipzig]], [[Marburg]], [[Munich]] and [[Kiel]], literature, music and philosophy.
He was a great theatre lover and supporter and was a director, writer and consultant. In 1923, Heinrich XLV became head of the dramaturgy department at Reussian Theatre in [[Gera]].
==Head of the House of Reuss==
At the death of his father on 21 November 1928 he became head of the [[Reuss (state)|House of Reuss]] after the [[Reuss Younger Line|Younger]] and [[Reuss Elder Line|Elder]] Lines merged, when the Elder Line became extinct in the male line in 1927.
In 1935 he adopted one of his relatives, Prince Heinrich I (1910–1982) a member of the Köstritz branch of the Princely family of Reuss. The adoption took place for [[inheritance]] reasons, not for succession rights for the headship of the House of Reuss. In 1939 Heinrich I married [[Duchess Woizlawa Feodora of Mecklenburg]], the niece of Heinrich XLV.
During the 1930s Heinrich XLV became an enthusiastic [[Nazism|Nazi]] sympathizer and member of the [[Nazi Party]].<ref>Lionel Gossman: Brownshirt Princess; A study of the "Nazi Conscience". Open Book Publishers, Cambridge 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-906924-07-2}}, S. 68</ref> In August 1945,&nbsp; he was arrested in Ebersdorf by the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] military, and is presumed missing.<ref>Kerstin Ackermann: The "Wolfgang Rosenthal Clinic Thallwitz / Saxony in the two German dictatorships, [[inaugural dissertation]], Giessen 2008, p. 51</ref> Although he was most likely interned and killed in [[NKVD special camp Nr. 2]] in [[Buchenwald]], his name is not in any of the special camps' lists of the dead. On 5 January 1962 he was declared dead by a court in [[Büdingen]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.btinternet.com/~allan_raymond/Monarchies_of_Europe_Former_Reigning.htm |title=Monarchies of Europe - Formerly-reigning monarchs and present-day claimants in Europe |publisher=Btinternet.com |accessdate=2011-10-04 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120630225035/http://www.btinternet.com/~allan_raymond/Monarchies_of_Europe_Former_Reigning.htm |archivedate=2012-06-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref> His entire fortune was seized and confiscated in 1948 by the [[Soviet Military Administration in Germany|Soviet Military Administration]], including the Ebersdorf Castle, Thallwitz Castle, Osterstein Castle in Gera.
Heinrich XLV remained unmarried and childless and the succession of the House of Reuss passed to [[Heinrich IV, Prince Reuss of Köstritz|Prince Heinrich IV]] of the Reuss of Köstritz branch.
==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Heinrich XLV, Prince Reuss Younger Line'''
|2= 2. [[Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line]]
|3= 3. Princess Elise of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
|4= 4. [[Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line]]
|5= 5. [[Duchess Agnes of Württemberg]]
|6= 6. [[Hermann, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg]]
|7= 7. [[Princess Leopoldine of Baden]]
|8= 8. [[Heinrich LXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line]]
|9= 9. Princess Adelheid Reuss of Ebersdorf
|10= 10. [[Duke Eugen of Württemberg (1788–1857)|Duke Eugen of Württemberg]]
|11= 11. [[Princess Helene of Hohenlohe-Langenburg]]
|12= 12. [[Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg]]
|13= 13. [[Princess Feodora of Leiningen]]
|14= 14. [[Prince William of Baden]]
|15= 15. [[Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Württemberg]]
}}
==Notes and sources==
<references />
*The Royal House of Stuart, London, 1969, 1971, 1976, Addington, A. C., Reference: II 224
{{commons category|Prince Heinrich XLV Reuss of Gera}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Reuss Younger Line|House of Reuss Younger Line]]|13 May|1895||1945|[[Reuss (state)|House of Reuss]]}}
{{s-pre}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line|Heinrich XXVII]]}}
{{s-tul|title=[[Reuss Younger Line|Prince Reuss]]|years=1928{{spaced ndash}}1945, officially 1962|reason=[[German Revolution of 1918–19|Principality abolished in 1918]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Heinrich IV, Prince Reuss of Köstritz|Heinrich IV Reuss of Köstritz]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinrich 45, Hereditary Prince Reuss Younger Line}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:People from Saalburg-Ebersdorf]]
[[Category:People from the Principality of Reuss-Gera]]
[[Category:Princes of Reuss]]
[[Category:Royalty in the Nazi Party]]
[[Category:Heirs apparent who never acceded]]
[[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:People who died in NKVD special camp Nr. 2]]
[[Category:Sons of princes regnant]]
[[Category:Nazis who died in prison custody]]
[[Category:Pretenders]]